Pages

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Interview/Review: Bring Me Back by Karen Booth

Hey
Melissa, thank you so much for hosting me today. I’m really excited to be here!

Tell
us a little about yourself.

I’m
a Midwestern girl transplanted in the South, raised on 80s music, Judy Blume
and the films of John Hughes. I’m also a married mom of two and a writer. I’m a
big music fan and worked for more than a decade in the music industry before I
left my career behind to have children. Writing came after that. In my spare
time, I like to bake or putter around in the garden, and I’m pretty handy, but
don’t confuse me with Martha Stewart. With two kids, not much around here is
perfect. I’m also completely addicted to college basketball (Go Heels!).

Tell
us a little about the book you’re here to promote.

Bring Me Back is the first novel I
ever wrote, although it’s the fourth to be published. It’s the story of Claire
Abby, a single-mom and music journalist, who lands a career-defining interview
with Christopher Penman, the British rock star she was obsessed with in high
school. It’s a modern fairytale in many ways—I put a very relatable woman into
a dream scenario and let her figure out a way to make it work. The love story
between Claire and Christopher is the central arc, but the relationship between
Claire and her 17 year-old daughter, Samantha, plays an important role in the
book. So does the strained relationship between Claire and her father.

What
was your main inspiration for this story?

A
dream about John Taylor from Duran Duran started it all. I was in my early 30s,
on vacation in St. Barts with my husband and daughter, who was not quite two
years old at the time. Out of the blue one night, I had a very vivid and steamy
dream about JT, who was in fact the British rock star I was obsessed with in
high school. It was very odd, albeit enjoyable. I hadn’t thought about the man
in years and have no idea what made him pop into my dream that night. I woke
the next morning wondering what it would be like for a woman to meet her
adolescent celebrity crush, many years later in life.

If
your book was made into a movie, which stars would you want to play your hero
and heroine?

It’s
funny that you asked this question, because there is a circle of Bring Me Back fans on Twitter and this
is a frequent topic of discussion among them. For Claire, I would go with Claire
Danes. And the name is perfect! She’s a great combination of beauty and brains,
and can handle the dead-serious parts of the story along with the more fun and
sexy ones. I will mention that the Twitter circle prefers Naomi Watts, but
something about her seems too severe for her to play the part of Claire.

Christopher
is another matter. He’s a toughie, to say the least. One night on Twitter, Brad
Pitt was brought up as an option and oh my—the uproar! Brad will not work. I
wish that Gabriel Aubry could act, because he’s physically perfect, right down
to the mesmerizing green eyes and tall, lanky frame. Jason Lewis is a good
option, but I’m not sure he could do a convincing British accent. Alexander
Skarsgard has been tossed around as a possibility, but his jaw isn’t square
enough. What can I say? I’m picky when it comes to Christopher. I have to keep
looking.

Describe
your hero and heroine in five words.

Claire:
Smart, loyal, stubborn, loving and determined.

Christopher:
Charming, sexy, witty, dark and talented.

Music critic Claire Abby is a single mom
dreading her daughter’s departure for college and worried that turning forty
will leave her career running on fumes. She’s floored when she lands a Rolling
Stone cover story on 80s British rock legend Christopher Penman. She spent her
teenage years fantasizing he was her boyfriend.

In person, Christopher is everything
Claire feared he’d be—charming, witty and unwilling to address the rumors he’s
dodged for a decade. Still, she contains her adolescent fantasies and manages to
earn his trust, unearthing the truth and the devastating secret behind it. His
blockbuster story is her first priority when she returns home, a nearly
impossible task when Christopher starts calling and flirting. She knows she
should maintain a professional distance. She knows she should focus on the
story. She knows it would be best to simply walk away. But how can she say “no”
to the man she could never forget?

Review:So, I'll be the first to admit the description of this book was not what had me wanting to review it, it was the cover and having finished the book I find it all the more poignant. That being said I really enjoyed the book.Claire is an empty nester in waiting when the job of a life time comes up and she jumps at it. From the get go it all seemed a little too easy for Claire but she soon learns everything isn't as it seems. The interactions with her daughter were wonderful and the though I felt a few times she capitulated to Chris far too soon without barely putting up a fight for me she was still a really relatable likeable character.Chris OMG. Firstly I am going to throw my two cents worth in and say I totally had Chris Martin from Coldplay in my head as I read this book. And if I thought really hard i probably imagined his wife as Claire too. Now back to Chris he is the most sexy loveable character equal parts boy and man. I love how clueless he is sometimes and how he pushes Claire's boundaries at others.Overall I give this 4 out of 5 This book is a must read for any woman who ever had a crush on a rockstar.